The Villages - March 2018 - 23
LIz Lowe
"I wasn't goIng to be a weepIng wIdow,"
Liz Lowe said. An industrious nurse and habitual
volunteer, Lowe is not one to wallow. Her husband was
gone, the children were grown and retirement was on the
table. So at 62 years old, she made an audacious, albeit
uncommon, decision - she joined the Peace Corps.
A natural-born caregiver, Lowe began carrying her
first-aid box in third grade.
"I always wanted to be a nurse," she said. "Maybe it was
my situation growing up - I was the oldest of seven kids."
At 18, she joined the United States Army Nurse
Corps. Since most nurses were serving in the war,
local hospitals were severely understaffed. Lowe was
21 when the war ended. She got married and started a
family, noting it was, "the thing to do at that time." As
her children grew up, she continued her nursing career
with various roles as a registered nurse, Red Cross nurse,
licensed practical nurse program instructor, home
health nurse and hospice nurse.
"When President Kennedy established the Peace
Corps in 1963, I thought, 'Oh I would like to do that,'"
Lowe spent the better part of her first year learning to
communicate with the 65 families in her care.
"We used a lot of nonverbal communication," she said.
But sounds of distress are universal. One night she
heard oxen stomping in the distance, followed by a
woman's desperate wailing.
"The woman's sons carried her in to see me," she
said. While working in the field, she had struck her
ankle with a machete and was losing blood quickly. Lowe
cleaned and carefully bandaged the wound.
"I learned how to pray in Paraguay," she said. "It was
the best tool I had."
Two days later, Lowe was astounded to see how well
the wound was healing.
She also marveled at the bonds she forged in the
foreign land - especially among children. When a frog
died in her well, the children brought her fresh water
from the school.
"And they never let me walk alone. If I didn't have my
straw hat, they would rush out to give me one," she said.
After two years of service, Lowe returned home. But
"It made you apprecIate thIngs -
what people went through to get care."
she said - some day. "But of course I couldn't because I
had a husband, kids and a job."
But the opportunity came around again several
decades later, and Lowe was ready. She headed to the
heart of South America - Paraguay. Her new residence
was a remote village, where she would live alone, deliver
babies, bandage wounds and serve as the only medical
resource to a poor community.
"Paraguay was about 50 years behind the United
States, so it was like stepping back in time," she said.
"Ninety percent of the children needed immunizations."
Slogging through the swampy region, many mothers
traveled 10 miles on foot with their children in tow.
"It made you appreciate things - what people went
through to get care," she said. "We would send word
out about the immunization clinics, and I was always
amazed at how the news spread."
she wasn't ready to retire just yet.
"It was hard to settle down, so I began volunteering as
a hospice nurse," she said.
"I did that for five years - stayed with patients at
night. It felt good to comfort people," she said.
At 70 years old, Lowe took a job at a nursing center
and worked weekend shifts for another five years.
Now well into her 90s, she has settled in the Village of
Duval.
She has two children, three grandchildren, 14
great-grandchildren and many gracious patients and
admirers.
"Mrs. Liz lost a husband, a son and a beloved
daughter-in-law," her former neighbor Darla noted. "She
suffered a heart attack and had several surgeries, but she
never stopped taking care of others. I've heard her say, 'I
don't want to act old. I'm going to keep living.'"
MAGAZINE
23
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Villages - March 2018
Contents
The Villages - March 2018 - Cover1
The Villages - March 2018 - Contents
The Villages - March 2018 - 1
The Villages - March 2018 - 2
The Villages - March 2018 - 3
The Villages - March 2018 - 4
The Villages - March 2018 - 5
The Villages - March 2018 - 6
The Villages - March 2018 - 7
The Villages - March 2018 - 8
The Villages - March 2018 - 9
The Villages - March 2018 - 10
The Villages - March 2018 - 11
The Villages - March 2018 - 12
The Villages - March 2018 - 13
The Villages - March 2018 - 14
The Villages - March 2018 - 15
The Villages - March 2018 - 16
The Villages - March 2018 - 17
The Villages - March 2018 - 18
The Villages - March 2018 - 19
The Villages - March 2018 - 20
The Villages - March 2018 - 21
The Villages - March 2018 - 22
The Villages - March 2018 - 23
The Villages - March 2018 - 24
The Villages - March 2018 - 25
The Villages - March 2018 - 26
The Villages - March 2018 - 27
The Villages - March 2018 - 28
The Villages - March 2018 - 29
The Villages - March 2018 - 30
The Villages - March 2018 - 31
The Villages - March 2018 - 32
The Villages - March 2018 - 33
The Villages - March 2018 - 34
The Villages - March 2018 - 35
The Villages - March 2018 - 36
The Villages - March 2018 - 37
The Villages - March 2018 - 38
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The Villages - March 2018 - 41
The Villages - March 2018 - 42
The Villages - March 2018 - 43
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The Villages - March 2018 - 45
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The Villages - March 2018 - 50
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The Villages - March 2018 - 65
The Villages - March 2018 - 66
The Villages - March 2018 - 67
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The Villages - March 2018 - 69
The Villages - March 2018 - 70
The Villages - March 2018 - Cover3
The Villages - March 2018 - Cover4
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